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ESCRIPTION OF THE MATERIAL jlND ITS USES, 



IN 



JFRJIJVCE AMD jlJUOERICjl, 



REPORTS OF DISTINGUISHED ENGINEERS AND ARCHITECTS. 






PUBLISHED BY 



JOHN C. GOODRIDGE, Jr. 




N. Y. & L. I. COIGNET STONE GO 



OFFICE AND FACTORY: 



THIRD AVENUE, near THIRD STREET, BROOKLYN, N. Y. 



JAMES SUTTON & CO., PRINTERS, 23 LIBERTY STREET, NEW YORK. 




J 



Plaza Fountain, Prospect Park, Brooklyn. Built of Be&on-Coigneb, 187 S. 





BETON-COIGNET 



EXTRACT FROM A REPORT ON BETON-COIGNET 
Professional Papers, Corps of Engineers, U. S. A., No. 19. 
BY Q. A. GILLMORE, 
Major Corps of Engineers, Brevet Major-General U. S. A. 



3. This name is given to a beton of very superior quality, or, more properly speaking, an 
artificial stone of great strength and hardness, which has resulted from the experiments and 
researches, extending through many years, of M. Francois Coignet, of Paris. 

96. The use of beton agglomere in France dates back to the year 1856, and confidence in 
its value has been constantly on the increase since that date. 

57. Uses of beton agglomere in Europe and elsewhere. — The most important and 
costly work that has yet been undertaken in this material, is a section, thirty-seven miles in 
length, of the Vanne aqueduct, for supplying water to the city of Paris. 

This aqueduct, which traverses the forest of Fontainebleau through its entire length, com- 
prises two and a half to three miles of arches, some of them as much as fifty feet in height, 
and eleven miles of tunnels, nearly all constructed of the material excavated, the impalpable 
sand of marine formation known under the generic name of Fontainebleau sand. It includes, 
also, eight or ten bridges of large span (seventy-five to one hundred and twenty-five feet), for 
the bridging of rivers, canals, and highways. 

The smaller arches are half circles, and are generally of a uniform span of 39?th> with a 
thickness at the crown of 15! inches. Their construction was carried on without interruption 
through the winter of 1868-9 ar, d the following summer, and the character of the work was not 
affected by either extreme of temperature. The spandrels are carried up in open work to the 
level of the crown, and upon the arcade thus prepared the aqueduct pipe is moulded in the 
same material, the whole becoming firmly knit together into a perfect monolith. The pipe is 
circular, 6j feet in interior diameter, with a thickness of 9 inches at the top, and 12 inches at 
the sides, at the water surface. The construction of the arches is carried on about two weeks 
in advance of work on the pipe, and the centres are struck about a week later. 

Water was let into a portion of this pipe in the spring of 1869, and M. Belgrand, inspector 
general of bridges and highways, and director of drainage and sewers of the city of Paris, cer- 
tified that " the impermeability appeared complete." 

58. Another interesting application of this material has been made in the construction, 
completed, or very nearly so, of the light-house at Port Said, Egypt. It will be 180 feet high, 
without joints, and resting upon a monolithic block of beton, containing nearly 400 cubic yards. 
In design it is an exact copy of the Baleines light-house, executed after the plans and under the 
orders of M. Leonce-Regnaud, engineer-in-chief. 

59. An entire Gothic church, with its foundations, walls and steeple, in a single piece, has 
been built of this material at Vesinet, near Paris. The steeple is 130 feet high, and shows no 
cracks or other evidences of weakness. 

3 



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M. Pallu, the founder, certifies that " during the two years consumed by M. Coignet in the 
building of this church, the beton agglomere, in all its stages, was exposed to rain and frost, and 
that it has perfectly resisted all variations of temperature." 

The entire floor of the church is paved with the same material in a variety of beautiful 
designs, and with an agreeable contrast of colors. 

60. In constructing the municipal barracks of Notre Dame, Paris, the arched ceilings of 
the cellars were made of this beton, each arch being a single mass. The spans varied from 22 to 
25 feet, the rise, in all cases, being one-tenth the span, and the thickness at the crown 8.66 in- 
ches. In the same building the arched ceilings of the three stories of galleries, one above the 
other, facing the interior, and all the subterranean drainage, comprising nearly 600 yards of 
sewers, are also monoliths of beton. 

One of these vault arches, having a span of 17^ feet, was subjected to three severe trial 
tests, viz : 

First. A pyramid of stone-work weighing 36 tons of 2,000 lbs. each, was placed on the 
centre of the vault. 

Second. A mass of sand, 13 feet thick, was spread over the surface of the same vault. 

Third. Carts loaded with heavy materials were driven over it. 

In no instance was the slightest effect produced. 

61. A portion of the basement work of the Paris Exposition building comprised a system 
of groined arches, supported by columns about 13! inches square and 10 feet apart. The arches, 
having a uniform rise of one-tenth the span, and a thickness at the crown of 5J inches, are mon- 
oliths of beton agglomere. A system of fiat cylindrical arches, of 10 feet span, covers the ven- 
tilating passages. They have a rise of one-tenth, and a thickness at the crown of not quite 
8 inches, and were tested with a distributed weight of 3,300 lbs. to the superficial yard. 

There was consumed in the construction of this basement- work more than 353,000 cubic 
feet of beton. 

Beton-coignet becomes in process of time as impervious to water as many of the com- 
pact natural stones, while its matured strength exceeds that of the best qualities of sandstone, 
some of the granites, and many of the limestones and marbles. 

Chemical tests have shown this beton to be practically impervious to water. Two small 
specimens, each weighing about 2\ grammes, were tried by Dr. Isidor Walz, chemist, of New 
York City. Their specific gravity was 2.305. They were immersed in water fifteen minutes, and 
then kept four days in air, saturated with moisture. One of the specimens did not increase in 
weight at all during the interval, while the other absorbed 16-100 of one per cent, of 
moisture. 

This material, therefore, possesses all the characteristic properties of durability, being 
dense, hard, strong, and homogeneous ; and there would appear to be no reason for supposing 
that it may not, with entire safety, be applied to out-door constructions, even in the most 
northerly portions of the United States. 

It is injured by freezing before it has had time to set. Important works should not, there- 
fore, be executed during the winter in cold climates. 

The effect of freezing on newly made beton is to detach a thin scale from the exposed sur- 
face, producing a rough and unsightly appearance; but the injury does not extend into the 
mass of the material, unless the frost be verj' intense. 

In monolithic constructions, the plank coffre affords sufficient protection to the face sur- 
faces of the work against moderate frost, and, when the temperature ranges generally not much 
lower than the freezing point during the day, work may be safely carried on, if care be taken to 
cover over the new material at night. After it has once set, and has had a few hours to harden, 
neither severe frost, nor alternate freezing and thawing, has any perceptible effect upon it, and, 
under any and all circumstances, it is much less liable to injury from these causes, and requires 
fewer precautions for its protection against them, than common hydraulic concrete. 

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Monolithic constructions in beton agglomere may advantageously be carried on whenever it 
is not too cold to lay first-class brick masonry. 

In Paris and vicinity operations are not generally suspended during the winter, unless the 
cold be unusually severe for that climate. 

Pieces of statuary, and other specimens ornamented with delicate tracery, have been 
exposed for five consecutive winters to the weather in New York City without undergoing the 
slightest perceptible change. 

62. Over thirty-one miles of the Paris sewers had been laid in this material prior to June, 
1869, at a saving of 20 per cent, on their lowest estimated cost in any other kind of masonry. 

63. Several large city houses, some for places of residence, and others for business pur- 
poses, have been constructed, and many others are in contemplation. In these the entire 
masonry, comprising both the exterior and the partition walls, the chimneys with flues, cellar 
arches, cistern, &c, is a single monolith of beton agglomere. 

In one house, having a cellar below the street level, and six full stories, surmounted with a 
Mansard roof above, the thickness of the exterior wall was established as follows, viz. : cellar, 
19.7 inches ; first story, 15.7 inches; second story, 13.8 inches ; third story, 12.8 inches; fourth 
story, 1 1.8 inches; fifth story, 10.8 inches; sixth story, 9.8 inches. 

The cellars of such houses are usually divided into two large compartments by a wall 
parallel to the street, and these are covered by a flat arch of beton, the usual proportions of 
which are a rise of one-tenth the span, a thickness at the crown of si to 5! inches, and a thick- 
ness at the springing line of 8| to 9 inches. 

Spaces not exceeding thirteen or fourteen feet in width may be spanned by flat platforms 
from ten to twelve inches thick, and, similarly, the pavements of sidewalks may be in one 
continuous piece of beton, with street vaults below. 

64. An interesting application of this material in the construction of a hollow sustaining 
wall was made at the cemetery of Passy, in supporting a bank of earth 29I feet in height. In 
that wall the volume of the hollows is equal to 53 per cent, of the aggregate volume of beton. 
The hollows were filled with dry earth. 

65. The jetties at the entrance of the Suez Canal are built of beton-coignet. The con- 
struction is not monolithic, the beton having been formed into blocks, weighing about twenty 
tons each on land, where they were allowed to harden for two or three months before they 
were used. The jetties are twenty-six yards wide at the base and six yards wide at the summit, 
and are twelve yards in height. About sixteen thousand blocks have thus far been used in 
their construction, and but little remains to be done toward their completion. 

66. All the works above referred to, except those at Port Said, were visited by the writer 
in the month of February, 1870, and these statements are based upon close observation and 
personal knowledge. 

Many other interesting applications of this material were examined, of which it is not 
deemed necessary to make any special mention, except that in combined stability, strength, 
beauty, and cheapness, they far surpass the best results that could have been achieved by the 
use of any other materials, whether stone, brick, or wood. 

Carefully laid on a roof surface over arches, it is claimed that the usual bituminous^covering 
may be dispensed with. 

In the numerous and varied applications which have been made of it in France, it has 
received the most emphatic commendations from the government engineers and architects. 

Monolithic buildings in beton, with arched ceilings in all the rooms, are practically fire- 
proof. 

68. Foundations, generally, both in and out of water; for the piers, arches, and roof surfaces 
of casements; for parade and breast-height walls, &c, &c. 

67. For warehouses, churches, and large buildings of every description ; for foundations, 
quay-walls, light-houses, jetties and piers; for abutments and massive walls of all kinds ; for 

■' 6 




The Vaime Aqueduct. Built in. 1S6S, 



sidewalks, platforms, and flagging, and for many other minor purposes, beton agglomere 
possesses not only great comparative cheapness, but all the essential merits of brick and stone 
with respect to strength, hardness, and durability ; while for many purposes, such as cellars and 
cellar floors, cisterns, reservoirs, tanks, and fountains, arches, vaulted ceilings, and vaults, 
tunnels, aqueducts, sewer and water pipes, and ornamental work of every description within 
the province of the architect or engineer, it possesses advantages peculiar to itself, and not 
equally shared by other materials. 



Extracts from a Report made by Francois Coignet, to the Civil Engineer of Paris, 
March 19th, 1869: 

" Gentlemen — You have already on several occasions received with favor the communica- 
tions which I have made to you in reference to the uses and applications of the agglomerate 
invented by me. 

" I shall dwell no longer upon this point (the mode of preparation), which to-day is per- 
fectly demonstrated. I shall not refer to the works already accomplished, and to which I have 
called your attention in my preceding communications, such as the saw-mill of Mr. Hinguerlot ; 
the church of Vesinet; the sustaining wall of the Boulevard de l'Empereur; the works of the 
Exposition, and the twenty-five to thirty miles of sewers in the city of Paris. I only desire to 
call your attention to the new uses to which it has been applied within two years. 

" In the first place, I will mention the eight or ten large buildings which we have con- 
structed in Paris. They are five and six stories high, are built exclusively of agglomerate from 
top to bottom, and it has proved practical to reduce the thickness of the walls to a remarkable 
extent. The facades of these buildings are ornamented, and though several of them were built 
in mid-winter, their resistance to frost is absolute, even in those the roofs of which are terraced 
in this material. Its use, then, for the construction of houses, is an accomplished fact, and in 
the perfection attained our hopes have been more than realized. 

" I would further bring to your notice its application to a purpose which, though more 
limited, is not without its importance — that is, to the construction of foundations, vaults, and 
the underground portions of buildings of any size. In regard to this there can be no two 
opinions, and the most eminent engineers and architects who have examined the foundations 
that we have constructed are unanimous in their praise. For this class of work the material is 
perfection itself— strength under every trial, the absence of joints and consequent freedom from 
all infiltration, beauty of form, smoothness of surface, although without plastering, reduction 
of bulk, economy in expense, and unexampled boldness of arches — all these qualities are here 
found combined. 

" I can cite, as the most perfect type of this special application, the foundations of our 
house in the Rue Miromenil, and particularly those of the out-houses of the mansion of Mr. E. 
Andre, on the Boulevard Haussmann, the vaults of which are so extensive, with such a reduced 
thickness of wall, and with such flat arches of so great a span, that it is safe to say it would be 
impossible to construct similar work out of the materials usually employed, and in this opinion 
we are sustained by the most competent architects. I would likewise call your attention to the 
sustaining wall of the cemetery of Passy, which is truly monumental, as well as to the great 
collecting sewer which leads from Paris to La Briche, and which has cost a million and a half 
of francs. This sewer has been built under difficulties of every kind — among them, especially, a 
succession of inundations ; for, through a great part of its length, it ran alongside an old sewer 
in bad repair, which constantly discharged its waters into the deepest cuttings. 

"This sewer included a tunnel, which it was necessary for us to construct in order to pass 
under the track of the Railway du Nord, and we succeeded perfectly, in spite of the iarring of 
the trains, and of five successive inundations of the river Seine. 



"This sewer, finished a year and a half ago, is a monolithic tube, without joints ; its hard- 
ness and its homogeneity are all that could be desired, and notwithstanding all the great diffi- 
culties above mentioned, it is without a single crack, and shows no evidence of weakness. 

" But of all the works which we have undertaken, the most important is, beyond dispute, 
the construction of the Aqueduct of Vanne, from the River Yonne to the borders of Esconne at 
Chevannes, about thirty-seven miles in length, which is to cost eight millions of francs. 

"This aqueduct, which traverses the Forest of Fontainebleau through its whole length, 
comprises two and one half to three miles of arches, some of them as much as fifty feet in 
height, and eleven miles of tunnels, nearly all constructed of the material excavated, the impal- 
pable sand of marine formation known under the generic name of Fontainebleau sand. It 
includes, also, eight or ten bridges of large span (seventy-five to ninety feet), for the bridging 
of rivers, canals, and roads. This work was commenced about the middle of the year 1868, and 
is to be completed in three years. Already, in eight months, one-third of the work is finished. 
Several miles of arches are built. These arches are forty feet span, are fifteen and three-quarter 
inches in thickness at the crown, and in some instances they are fifty feet in height. They have 
been constructed without interruption through the heat of summer and the frosts of winter, and 
they have been entirely unaffected by either extreme of temperature. Built in ordinary 
masonry, similar arches ought not to have had over twenty feet span ; with a span of forty feet 
they would be really wonderful ; but they are all the more so, since they have been made of 
agglomerate, the base of which is the Fontainebleau sand, so fine that it never is used even for 
making mortar. It would not be possible to find a more complete demonstration of the value 
of our process, since even with Fontainebleau sand we accomplish the boldest works ; and so 
completely has this won the confidence of the engineers, that eight bridges, of from one hundred 
to one hundred and fifteen feet span, which were to have had iron stringers, are now to be con- 
structed entirely of agglomerate. This fact, more than any thing I could say, bears testimony 
to the value of this material. 

" It is also with agglomerate, having for its base impalpable sand, that we are building the 
underground portions of the aqueduct, which pass through enormous masses of fine sand, and 
demand constant precautions to avoid caving. We have been compelled to adopt an entire 
system of sheathing and of centres especially adapted to the work. Success has so well 
attended our efforts, that we have, up to this time, met with no accident, and in spite of the 
manifest inferiority of the sand used, we have succeeded in running a tunnel of a single piece 
without a joint, the hardness of which is all that could be desired, with strength enough to 
resist, easily, the great pressure arising from the tendency to cave in of the running sand 
through which the work passes. 

"We have thus proved, a second time [the first having been in the tunnel of the grand 
sewer of Saint Denis, under the Railroad du Nord], that the use of agglomerate for the con- 
struction of tunnels and underground work possesses a great superiority over common ma- 
sonry. 

" In fact, while common masonry leaves spaces behind the sides and above the arch, the 
agglomerate, by its very nature, crowds back the surrounding soil, compresses it, and fills all 
spaces, so that the entire circumjacent mass becomes incorporated with it, thus manifestly 
securing great solidity, largely increased by the absence of all joints, by which all leaking is 
prevented, which is the frequent cause of the accidents which so often happen in tunnels. A 
tunnel constructed of agglomerate is a monolithic tube without joints, homogeneous throughout 
its entire mass, and sustaining pressure with the maximum power of resistance. 

" I have, moreover, in the construction of the aqueduct of Vanne, solved one of the most 
interesting problems. I have succeeded in rendering filtration absolutely impossible — 
'mathematically' so, to employ the expression used by the Government inspectors in their 
report, and this, too, without having recourse to the usual linings or coatings. These linings, 
you know, often have a thickness of several inches, and are then quite expensive; but their 



chief defect, especially when applied to agglomerate, is a tendency to detach themselves from 
the masonry on account of the inequality of expansion, and to crack when the cement used is 
not of the first quality. The success has been complete and absolute; subjected to trial, the 
loss of water was nothing. 

"This method, stopping all filtration, is of great advantage in the construction of basins, 
cisterns, and reservoirs made with agglomerate; works which, in general.it is so difficult to 
build without a tendency to leak, and upon which the action of the weather is so frequently 
injurious. 

"As a proof of the confidence to-day given to agglomerate, I will instance the hollow 
blocks which we have constructed for the dock at Bordeaux, and also the sewers of Odessa, 
which have been constructed by this process. 

"Above all, I will call your attention to the construction of the light-house at Port Said, 
which has just been intrusted to us. 

"This light-house will be one hundred and eighty feet high; it will be entirely built of 
agglomerate, made from the desert sand, analogous to that of Fontainebleau ; and it will rest 
upon a monolithic block of agglomerate of nearly four hundred cubic yards dimensions. It is 
almost an exact copy of the Baleines light-house, executed after the plans and under the orders 
of Mr. Leonce-Reynaud, Engineer-in-Chief. When it shall have been completed, I will have 
the honor to submit to you a special report upon this remarkable work. 

" I have now called your attention to the principal works, more or less monolithic, which 
we have executed, and it remains for me to present to you certain applications and improve- 
ments, not less important, which we have accomplished in the adaptation of artificial stones to 
all kinds of buildings ; but, before this, allow me to offer my tribute of thanks to those eminent 
men, Messrs. Belgrand and Alphaud, engineers, and Mr. Caillat, architect, who were the first to 
grasp the great future of the agglomerate, and did not fear to take the initiative in its use on a 
large scale. Permit me also to thank Mr. de Lesseps, the distinguished man who assumed the 
responsibility of awarding the construction of the light-house of Port Said to us. 

"As I have before said, the result of our process increases twenty-fold, and even more, the 
adhering properties of lime and cement, so that by our method we do make stone which resists a 
crushing weight of considerably over seven thousand pounds to the square inch. 

" It is evident that we have found this wonderful hardness of great use to us in the con- 
struction of flag-stones, flights of stairs, door-steps, landing-places, parapets, curves, balusters, 
etc.; and in fact, we not only daily deliver these articles to private individuals, but we have 
furnished large quantities to the city of Paris. I will particularly mention the stair-ways to the 
cellars of the Grand Opera House, which have given every satisfaction to Mr. Gamier, the 
architect of this beautiful structure. 

" Besides being able to obtain, simultaneously with stability, color, grain, and finish of form, 
we have gone largely into the manufacture of ornamented and moulded stones; our reproduc- 
tions of sculpture are true works of art. Ornamented stones for buildings, doors, windows, 
balconies, cornices, and balustrades, by universal consent, have been brought to perfection ; 
and as we offer all these at prices notably less than those of ordinary stone, the demand for 
them increases daily." 



Extract from Reports of U. S. Commissioners, Paris Ui%iversal Exposition, 1867 . 
on Bebon-Coignet, by Leonard Bechwitn, Civil Engineer: 

Different varieties of beton-coignet tested at the Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers give 
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Most of the betons in the preceding table are stronger than is necessary for ordinary uses, 
and if used, the thickness of the structure, as compared with common masonry, may be dimin- 
ished. 

10 




Light-House, PoH Said, entrance to Suez Canal. 
Erected in 1869. 200 feet high. 




Stair-way to the Avenue de VEmpereur. Built in 1866. 

ii 



The tensile and bearing strength of betons is variable, as is that of every kind of stone. 
The following table shows the range of strength in the particular kinds, and the relative 
strength of the different kinds of building materials named : 





Mortar. 


Concrete. 


Brick. 


Lime- 
stone. 


Sand- 
stone. 


Coignet 
Agglomerate. 


Granite. 


Crushing strength in ) 


280 


i H 


550 


4000 


2200 


2634 


5500 




to 


to 


lo 


to 


to 


to 


pounds per square inch. ) 


2IOO 


1700 


5500 


5500 


7495 


I IOOO 


Tensile strength in ) 


50 


71 


"5 


I20 


180 


288 






to 


to 


to 


to 


to 


to 




pounds per square inch. ) 


290 


360 


300 


864 


900 


426 





A cubic foot of beton-coignet weighs about one hundred and forty-five pounds. 



APPLICATION OF BETON.— Conclusion, 



WAREHOUSES, CHURCHES, GRANARIES, CELLARS, FOUNDATIONS. 

Structures and buildings of solid masses of beton suffer less than ordinary materials from 
unequal settling of the ground, and underground rooms and cellars built of it are particularly 
free from damp. 

The railway station at Suresnes, several houses at St. Denis, the church at Vesinet, etc., 
are examples of this kind, and, from the absence of joints, are the same as if made of one block 
of stone. 

Cheap dwellings for workmen are now in course of construction in several localities in 
France. 

A small house of beton-coignet was exhibited at the Champ de Mars, with specimens of 
arches, piers, slabs, statues, fountains, etc., finely moulded and well made by Mr. Coignet. 



ARCHES AND VAULTS. 

Various experiments have been made, with good results, to test the strength of the beton 
for arches, and it is now much used for that purpose ; in the structures of the Northern Railway 
at Paris, in the new prison of the Madelonnettes, and in the new barracks of Notre Dame. In 
the latter, an arched vault was built of 18 feet span, i\ feet versed sine, 8| inches thick at the 
crown, with surface of 14 square yards, on which experimental weights of 47 tons were placed 
for a fortnight without damage. Beton was afterward used for all the similar arched vaults in 
the building, giving a surface of 3,588 square yards. 

An experimental arch on the Quai de Billy has a span of 55! feet, versed sine 4 feet, thick- 
ness of crown 14 inches, with good results. 

At Aubervilliers, the machinery of a considerable saw-mill is placed on an arch of 33 feet 
span, versed sine 6j feet. 

The ventilation of the Exhibition building, at the Champ de Mars, is effected by under- 
ground works, consisting of a series of circular and railed galleries, arched with beton, span 
about 10 feet, for the circulation and supply from below of cool air through openings in the 
floor. 



Aft linllliiJ 1 










1=1 



T3 



The outer gallery is 33 feet in width, and 1,443 yards in length; the groined arches of beton 
are supported on two rows of beton pillars, 864 in number, carrying a roof, the upper surface of 
which forms a floor of 15,873 square yards of surface. 

The quantity of beton consumed in these galleries was 353,166 cubic feet. 

WALLS. 

The embankment on which runs the Avenue de l'Empereur, at the Trocadero, for a quarter 
of a mile, is supported by a wall of beton about 40 feet high ; the outer side is strengthened by 
pilasters ; the inner side consists of a series of arches at right angles to the wall, built one upon 
the other, and extending into the embankment, forming a bearing for the mass of earth, and 
diminishing its lateral pressure against the wall. The walls and arches are a solid mass of beton. 

The steeple of the church of Vesinet is constructed of beton, 130 feet high, and shows no 
sign of weakness. 

FLOORS, TERRACES, ROOFS. 

If the area does not exceed 13 or 16 feet in width, a slab of beton 10 or 12 inches thick will 
be strong enough to sustain itself; if the area be greater, double T-joists of iron should cross 
the space for ceilings, floors, etc., and the slabs of beton may be made thicker or thinner, 
depending on the distance of the joists one from another, the flanges of which form the holding 
of the slabs. 

Joists being thus placed, and a temporary scaffolding or floor of boards erected underneath, 
the beton is dumped upon it and packed ; the edges hold upon the flanges, the beton hardens, 
the scaffolding is removed, and the ceiling remains firm ; if the upper side should serve for a 
floor also, the beton should be laid thicker and carried over the joists, so as to form a smooth 
surface above them. 

FLAGGING SIDEWALKS. 

Beton, being impervious to water, and without joints, no moisture is absorbed beneath, if 
the ground be properly drained, therefore no heaving or disturbing results from frosts in the 
ground. Flagging and floors of beton for courts, stables, cellars, coach-houses, schools, railway 
stations, warehouses, etc., etc., are much used. 

FOUNDATIONS FOR MACHINERY. 

Foundations for machinery, of beton, are usually cheaper, and as good as masonry of stone. 
For engines, a cubic yard of beton corresponds to a horse power, and a thirty-horse power 
should have thirty cubic yards of foundation. 

Foundations of beton for water-wheels and turbines may be seen at St. Maur; for steam- 
engines, at the percussion-cap factory at Paris, the tobacco factory at Chateauroux, the glass 
works at St. Gobain, etc, ; at Oyssel, a steam-engine of four hundred-horse power, which works 
admirably, rests on a block of beton 7 yards in thickness, and at the Exposition of 1867 a great 
portion of the machinery was placed on beton foundations laid in winter, and worked well. 

SEWERS, AQUEDUCTS, WATER-PIPES. 

Twenty-five miles of main sewers in Paris have been made of beton, and its use for this 
purpose is rapidly increasing. 

Water-pipes of beton are made at half the expense of iron, and they cost little for repairs. 
The whole of the underground drainage of 40 acres roofed by the palace of the Exhibition, was 
through beton-coignet pipes of 12 to 16 inches tube, discharging into sewers of beton. The 
cubic contents of materials used in these pipes amounted to 264,825 cubic feet. 

14 



CISTERNS, RESERVOIRS, TANKS, CESSPOOLS. 

These, when built of masonry and coated with cement, are impervious to water, but need 
constant repairs ; of beton-coignet they are equally impervious, cost less, and are more secure. 
- A cistern 39 feet in depth, 5 feet in diameter, with sides 10 inches in thickness, after two 
days receives water, and remains sound an indefinite period. 

The cesspools of beton, authorized by the Prefect of the Seine in 1862, are without cement, 
hold good, and are water-tight; structures of this kind are adopted for the great opera house 
now building, and for the great railroad stations, etc., etc. 

Gasometer tanks of large dimensions, 130 feet diameter, 49 feet in depth, are built of com- 
mon beton-coignet at Rueil and St. Denis. The difficulties of making structures of this size in 
masonry water-tight are said to be much less in beton-cOignet. 

MARINE STRUCTURES — EXPERIMENTS OF MR. COIGNET. 

Mr. Coignet's first experiments were begun, by order of the Government, in November and 
December, 1858, and January, 1859, on the Socoa breakwater at St. Jean de Luz, in a very 
exposed situation. The blocks were of several kinds, and all are alike in good condition at this 
date (1867), and have resisted the action of sea-water with satisfactory results. They are com- 
pact and hard, and the only effect noticed has been the wearing of the edges of the blocks and 
the rounding off of the angles, produced by the friction of pebbles and the general mechanical 
action of the sea. 




iniiiii 



* I^«^^ 



^^p^p 



AJ. 




Buildings of Beton-Coignet , Rue Miromenil, Paris 
Built in 1867. 



is 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

020 187 527 4 




;.5«Jir.Y- 



^SSS^Ny \|/N i ^ 



Church in Vesinet, France. Built of Beton-Coignet, 1863. 



16 



